Hello, I have recently purchased a new laptop and was a little turned off when I realized the audio quality was less than impressive (I wasn't expecting much to begin with). I thought that when I used my pair of earbuds it would sound better as I know that the quality of the bass, when I used the headphones in my other computer or mp3 player, is very good. But when I use them in my laptop I get almost no bass and overall poor sound quality. I, yesterday, purchased a pair of over ear headphone (turtlebeach Z2) and still the audio quality didn't improve whatsoever. I know from experience with other turtle beach products that they have excellent bass processing, at least better than what I am getting now. Is there anything I can do to get the full sound quality that I should be getting. I hope I don't get responses saying that its my earbuds/beaches that are the problem, because I know from experience that they both have excellent bass capabilities when used in my computer, xbox, mp3 player, etc.... I have seen a few other threads on this, but haven't really found an answer. Any help would be much appreciated!

Only thing I can suggest is to look for sound drivers for the laptop or turn off any added effects the OEM may have activated.

Or possibly on the old laptop you had some effect activated to suit your tastes which is not active on the new laptop.

For example in Windows 7, there's usually something like:Volume Context Menu/Playback Devices/[specific device used]/Properties/Enhancements/Bass Boost (or possibly even Room Correction)that can affect the frequency response as well as Disable All Enhancements.

(On my laptop, I have a separate entry for headphones, but the Speakers setting controls both headphones and speakers, so try something to check you're adjusting or checking the right 'playback device')

I guess we can eliminate high output impedance trying to drive a low-impedance load, because your Turtlebeach Z2 are 32 ohm impedance and the earbuds are likely to be similar, which ought to be fine.

Does the Z2 have a combined microphone and headphone 3.5mm jack plug? That might be a potential problem in a standard stereo headphone-only socket perhaps.

Also there are some audio devices specifically tailored to be non-flat (e.g. ~20 dB bass boost present in one 'stylish' CD player's headphone jack & speaker output with no adjustment available).

A loopback test (or input to a PC soundcard with a line-in port - usually lacking on laptops) might be revealing if there's a problem with your settings. You could compare the spectrum of captured and original audio or even run a RMAA test.